Disney World!!

We went to Disney World!! About a year ago, my parents told us that they wanted to take the whole family to Disney World in January. My mom rented an amazing house close to the park and then we all started planning and getting excited! My family has always loved Disney and I think we instilled that same love in Jane when we lived in California. They are the perfect ages to really enjoy "the magic" of Disney.

We decided not to tell Jane & Henry so we didn't have to hear, "Is it today?" every day for 9 months.  :) It was a tough secret to keep, especially in the last few days. I even sent the kids to spend the afternoon with Nana one day while I packed. It was very worth it to see their reaction in the morning when we told them. 

Our kids have never gotten dressed and ready so quickly. Henry was waiting by the door with his backpack.

Our sweet little boy, along for the ride.

We had a great flight out! I was very proud of our kids on both flights, but flying with three really is a challenge! Good thing Nana and Papa were along.

We got to Florida in the afternoon, dropped our things off at the house and headed to Epcot for dinner! They gave Jane a birthday button when we got our passes and she wore it the first few days. Everyone who works at Disney told her "Happy Birthday!"

Our first stop in Disney! 

Pete got a 1st visit button. 

(Just a side note...this is the last picture I have of our old carseat...the one Jane, Henry and Pete have all ridden in...it was stolen this first night, along with our stroller, while we were on our first ride of the trip - we replaced them both a couple days later. It didn't stop us from having a great time though!) 

Happy to be eating dinner in Germany at Epcot!

Getting ready to head into the Magic Kingdom for the first time! Princess Aurora joined us in her brand new dress!

Captain Hook took a little snooze on the 10 minute drive. 

"Walking right down the middle of Main Street USA!"

Watching a show in front of Cinderella's Castle!

Riding a classic, Dumbo.

Her old favorite, Small World

Spinning in her dress, she did this all day!

Meeting Goofy!

Donald was scared of Captain Hook, then they had a pretend sword fight!

Meeting Daisy with Nana

Her old friend, Minnie!

This cast member asked Jane for her autograph :) She was more than happy to give her one!

In line for Pirates of the Caribbean!

Henry told me that this was his favorite part of the whole trip - riding Pirates of the Caribbean.

Watching the Main Street Electrical Parade

Captain Hook got a lot of attention from everyone that day. Several strangers asked me if they could take pictures of him, several characters in the parade talked to him from their floats...it got to be pretty comical.

In the afternoon of our first full day Kevin's flight got in and he joined in the fun.

Cinderella...I think Henry had a crush.

Sleeping Beauty - Aurora, was checking out Jane's dress.

The next day we went back to Epcot and Jane dressed like her new favorite, Elsa - from Frozen. We were hoping to meet her but we found out that you basically have to be there when the park opens or plan on spending 4+ hours in line. (more on that later in the trip...) She had tons of people stopping to talk to her about her dress and she started acting the part. Everyone asked me where we got her costume.  :)

Meeting Alice!

Outside Turtle Talk

A giant spyglass! 

Walker's fight got in during the afternoon and she joined us in Epcot.

Riding the ferry.

Our first day in Animal Kingdom we took Minnie Mouse with us!

She was still wearing her birthday button and a lady working in a store told Jane she had a phone call. When she got on the phone, it was Goofy! He sang her Happy Birthday!

Checking on their little brother.

Posing with Donald in Dinoland

On Kilimanjaro Safari!

What a sweet pair!

Henry took a lot of naps this way during our trip :) 

Our big girl found out how much fun it is to be 40+ inches! She got to ride a bunch of the big kid rides! This was her first, Dinosaur, in Animal Kingdom. She rode once with Nathan and I and wasn't too sure she wanted to ride again but then she decided to go with Nana and Papa. She told them, "there aren't any scary dinosaurs Nana, it's not scary or fast." She thought she had tricked them, which made it a lot more fun apparently.

Pluto was checking out Pete.

The Everest roller coaster was a lot of fun. Nathan always has to pose for the ride pictures.  :)

Another day at the Magic Kingdom, we took Belle with us to the park.

Waiting to ride Buzz Lightyear.

Meeting Buzz! Henry was very excited.

Shaina and Matt joined us the third day!

This day our friends, the Patricks, joined us for an afternoon. Nate and Michelle work with CRU, a campus ministry that works with students on internship with Disney. Their kids were all three born within 6 months of ours. Samuel and Jane especially have a lot of fun together.

I'm pretty sure this was a close second for Henry's favorite ride. The Tomorrowland Speedway - and he always drove a red car.  :)

Jane will tell you that this was her favorite - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Riding the teacups with Eli and Samuel!

Silly Henry, curled up in his brother's carseat.

We took a break from Disney for a beach day! We went to the Gulf side and it was beautiful. It really made me think about how much I miss getting to go to the beach on a more regular basis.

No one wanted to hold still long enough for a picture so this is the best we could do. 

Building a sand castle with Papa.

Pete and I walked in the surf for a while - so peaceful!

She was proud of her own little castle.

Bronco Sunday! We were all decked out for a morning in Hollywood Studios. Of course we left early so we could go watch the game! Jane wouldn't wear any Broncos attire but she kind of matched in her Merida wig - at least everyone was easy to keep track of that day!

I don't know what it's called but I know it's from Star Wars...

Riding the Rockin' Roller Coaster - one of the highlights for sure!

Our brave little princess decided that she wanted to ride the Tower of Terror. She didn't cry or scream but she calmly told me when we got off, "I did not like it, I did not like how it dropped" and she never asked to ride it again. You can kind of make out half of her face in the back row next to Nathan - too many arms in the way.  :)

As I'm sure you can imagine since my mom and I take a million pictures of our everyday - we have TONS of wonderful pictures from our trip! The second installment will be coming soon!